The Second Background (Dr. Who)

Now that I have most of Dr. Eleven stitched, I have to find a background.  I decided I wanted to stick with the same vivid blue colors and threads (Lorikeet and Silk Lame Braid) that I used for the Weeping Angel Statue canvas but not reuse the background from that piece.  This limits me in many ways.  A lighter color background works in more stitches than a dark color does in my experience.  You can get away with more stitches if the background is lighter.  I also think using light coverage stitches means you can use more stitches because a light coverage stitch is meant to not completely cover the canvas.  A bit of canvas "dandruff" isn't an issue with light coverage stitches.

So I have painted myself into a corner in a way.  Let's see if I can find a way out!

First I consulted my favorite books for background stitches.  By the way, several books are dedicated to background stitches.  Keep an eye open for Mindy English's Canvas Embroidery Notebook:  Backgrounds if you like embroidery-inspired stitches which are not the usual thing.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Canvas-Embroidery-Notebook-Backgrounds-by-Mindy-English-/271206401652?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f25294674

 June McKnight has three books exclusively on backgrounds--the brand new Colorful Backgrounds (which talks about using color in your background) and...
http://www.junemcknight.com/colorfulbackgrounds/ColorfulBackgrounds.html

...her older Backgrounds book which called Decorative Backgrounds for Needlepoint which appears to have a lot of darning patterns, although I've never seen this book so I am not sure.
http://www.newneedlepoint.com/content-product_info/product_id-2440/_sale_decorative_backgrounds_for_needlepoint_by_june_mcknight.html

There is also her More Background Stitches, which builds on Decorative Backgrounds to offer even more options for stitchers.  Of course many many books have stitches useful for backgrounds, so don't neglect checking out all your books for ideas.   I'd love to hear about great background stitch books, so if you have one you use a lot, please mention it in the comments or email me directly at chilly hollow at hot maildot com and I'll post for you.
http://bethsneedlepoint.com/Dot_StoreProducts.asp?storecategoryDesc=Books%20and%20DVDs&idstoreCategory=69

But just how do you pick a background from all these books?  That is a topic for tomorrow.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2013 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.